1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for detecting local mechanical stress in integrated devices.
2. Description of Background
Current in-line production stress metrology is conducted only at a wafer monitor level. For design purposes, the stress state in active device regions has been inferred from electrical data. It is clear that stress is one of the major factors in current design and manufacture of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) devices. Mechanical stress in deep sub-micron silicon (Si) technologies can drastically alter carrier mobility (e.g., approximately 25% dependent on device geometry) and further affect device performance.